To the Journal editor:

This is in regard to Rich Lowry’s June 20 patriotism column and the June 30 American pride article. Rich Lowry uses “proudness” polling data to insinuate that Democrats are less patriotic than Republicans. Considering how wrong the 2024 presidential election poll predictions were, these “proudness” patriotism polls may be unreliable. Bland questions like “how proud are you of our country” with a ranking of “very” to “zero” is rather meaningless. There are many facets to our country, some we definitely can be very proud of, others of which we can be deeply ashamed of.

Lowry lists several items to be proud of. There is also much to be ashamed of, past and present, including Trump’s threats of taking over Greenland, Canada and Cuba, Trump’s unprovoked attacks on Venezuela and Iran which needlessly put our troops in jeopardy resulting in death of many of our heroes, Trump’s self-aggrandizement and personal enrichment at our expense, murdering boaters in the Caribbean and Pacific for being suspected drug traffickers, Trump’s inhumane and unconstitutional treatment of immigrants and protesters, Trump crooning over despots he personally admires, and many other Trump actions.

Lowry blames academicians for lowering pride by teaching that America is predatory and imperialistic. Hmmm, after repeatedly touting that under him there would be no new wars, Trump just recently attacked Venezuela and Iran without just provocation. Trump has threatened to take over Greenland, Canada and Cuba. Sounds predatory and imperialistic to me.

Lowry believes patriots instinctively feel devotion to the U.S. each and every time one observes the U.S. flag. We all witnessed Trump wrapping his arms around the flag and kissing it on national television and watching his cronies and supporters lap up his sleazy fake patriotism. The U.S. flag itself is merely a decorative sheet of fabric. It is only a symbol of our country, not the country itself. Many so-called “patriots” love to wave flags and drape flags around questionable activities such as I.C.E. agents (killing) American citizen protesters. Flag makers and sellers surely love getting rich watching us pledge to and rally around all the flags and flag-displaying paraphernalia they sell to us. I prefer not to pledge allegiance to a flag. I prefer to pledge allegiance to our country, our diverse peoples and the grand ideas laid out in our country’s founding documents.

I consider myself to be a patriot of integrity without blind loyalty to whatever my country does in my name. I am proud of some aspects of my country while being ashamed of others. Being a true, independently thinking patriot with integrity entails much more complexity than waving a flag and being blindly obedient to our president. I am indebted to my country for the rights, protections, education, career and many other things provided to me and my family. I show my gratitude by paying my country the taxes I owe each year which helps fund government functions specified by the Constitution. I accept the fact that in order for all of us to get along peacefully, we vote for our government representatives who then vote on the budget. We all get turns at experiencing representatives we don’t like and paying for things we don’t want.

I suggest Lowry’s “patriotism gap” is really caused by the mob-mentality of Republicraps and MAGA Trump supporters who are all “click-bait” posting flag-waver type patriots who believe in “America right or wrong,” “America, love it or leave it,” “My way or the highway” and “Do as I say, not as I do.” No integrity. No independent thinking. Only blind loyalty to Trump.